Strings of miniature lights with standardized sizes have become popular in recent years for decoration and ornamentation during a holiday season, such as Christmas, New Year's, Hanukkah, Independence Day, and the like--celebrations, as well as for purposes of ornamental displays, as in advertising or product promotion. Typically, these strings of lights are arranged on tree branches, along rooftop eaves and edges, around windows, on bushes and around product displays or business signage. These light strings operate with low wattage small or miniature light bulbs, connected in a series along connecting wires which are properly insulated for either indoor or outdoor use. Through standardization of size and through means of mass production, these light strings have become relatively inexpensive to produce and operate with a low amount of electricity for highly visible, pinpoint illumination.
For purposes of display presentation, pluralities of lights have been presented with sockets arranged in predetermined ornamental presentations. Also, specific, predetermined ornamental presentations have been accomplished using a board or other support structure having holes formed therein arranged in a fixed design. The arrangement or configuration is predetermined by the manufacturer, so that lights on a string of lights can be inserted and held in the preset arrangement, for example as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,731,081 and 4,966,793. In each instance, however, the design presented is predetermined by the manufacturer and results from insertion of the light bulbs according to instructions into fixed openings which present only a single design in any given board. Other devices have been provided by which light sockets are fixed in a display having a fixed arrangement, such as the Christmas tree designs of U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,459 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,806. Selectable designs or personalization of designs for different occasions are not available with the fixed design devices.
Further, boards which present the bulbs through openings which hold the bulb and socket of a string of lights typically leave the wires of the string exposed toward the rear and may require special securing, taping or fastening in order to avoid an unsightly appearance from the rear. Indoor uses are typically desirable for such presentations, because there is no additional protection for the exposed sockets and wiring.
There continues to be a need for a display, useful with standardized miniature light strings, which are economical to manufacture and operate. Further, there is a need for a light display in which the design is selectable, personalizable and individually createable by the user and which does not require a specifically manufactured orientation of the light-holding orifices for any user's desired light presentation. Applicant's inventive miniature light display overcomes these drawbacks and provides other additional advantages.